‘Niche Gluten Free Dining’ is located in Islington, a very short walk from Angel tube station. Niche was founded in 2013 by Marc Warde and Adrian Morgan. Niche started out as a bakery however, Marc was diagnosed with celiac disease, and decided to transform bakery into totally gluten-free restaurant.

Niche Gluten-free Dining

I regularly meet up with my girlfriends for drinks, but last week we decided to have a sit down dinner and catch up with a few glasses of wine (naturally). It was a spontaneous idea, I was selected to choose the restaurant and after some quick research I decided to go with Niche, which would accommodate all the necessary dietary requirements. Niche seemed like a great option!

I booked it for 7.30pm but called 15 minutes prior to tell them know we were running late. The waiter on the phone was happy to change the time to 8pm, which was a lovely gesture.

Once we arrived at the restaurant the waiters greeted us with a friendly smile. The restaurant was bright and intimate. We were led through to the main dining area, where we were seated with a view of the window. The restaurant has a homely interior, which I felt matched the food.

The menu had a vast selection to choose from, with good meat, vegetarian and vegan options. I thought the layout of the menu was easy to read, with dietary symbols indicating dairy free or nut free.

Unfortunately the service was slow and we had to ask to order drinks and food. After we got the attention of the waiters we requested two Wild mushroom gnocchi (ve) – Potato gnocchi sautéed with onion, white wine & garlic broth, fresh spinach, peas, almond milk, toasted almonds.

One Glamorgan sausage (ve) – their take on this Welsh classic, these vegan cheese, leek, spring onion and potato croquettes are served in a Heritage tomato & red pepper stew, chilli oil and side of beer-battered onion rings (mustard, soya).

 

Finally we ordered one Smokey burger (df) – 8oz British beef (aged rib and brisket) with smoked bacon, beef tomato, crisp lettuce, smoked sun-dried tomato & onion relish in sesame seed bun with sides of skinny skin-on fries and our own coleslaw (egg, sesame, mustard).

 

 

Our dishes arrived quickly. My opinion of the Smokey burger was that it was tasty however I thought it was missing a strong cheese flavour, however the meat was juicy and it was gone in a matter of minutes. My skinny, skin-on fries were crunchy with a fluffy inside just how I like them. It was a filling meal, but I always have room for dessert!

I chose the white chocolate & peanut butter blondie – vanilla ice cream or fresh cream (nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs). When my dessert arrived the presentation was tasteful – white chocolate sauce smothered the baked peanut sponge. The dessert was full of flavour and had a lovely crunchy filling. I would recommend it to someone who loves peanut butter and has a sweet tooth!

The overall feedback from my girlfriends was mixed. I thought the food and the wine were good but the service was very poor which let Niche down. However I did feel that the service picked up towards the end of the evening.

Niche is open from Monday to Thursday 11:00 – 14:30 [lunch] and 17:00 – 22:00 [dinner]. Weekend opening times are Friday to Saturday 11:00 – 14:30 [lunch], 17:00 – 22:30 [dinner] and Sunday 11:00 – 15:00 [lunch].